Freefall
by TheResurrectionist
Summary: Gabriel knew Archangels couldn't feel pain. Unless it was self-inflicted. Dark!Fic time!


Freefall

The room was tall like only a room in Heaven could be. Light shafted down from the moon, lazy hazy lazy, the night too calm to be comfortable.

Gabriel was drawn to the chapel, hearing the crashes but also because he could feel the pain. The simple, pure pain flowing out of the chapel like quicksilver.

He entered slowly, drawing his sword from his sheath as he made his way into the chapel.

The room stood in an uncommon disarray, candle holders thrown around the small chapel on the smooth floors like trash. Heavenly scripts layered the floor, gold sheets turned brown by the burn marks marring the smooth paper.

In the center of the mess stood Heaven's strongest archangel, wings down and loose as he stood almost catatonic in the middle of the large, tall chapel.

"Michael?" Gabriel asked as he walked in, putting his sword back in its sheath. "What's wrong?"  
Michael remained silent, face turned away from him. Gabriel realized he was staring at the large candle sitting in the one standing candelabra left in the room.

The shadows reflected off Gabriel's brother's face, harsh planes of beauty reflecting the dim gold light in way only angels could.

The clothes Michael wore were in shambles, a dirty, ripped white shirt and black leggings covered in dust.  
"Michael?" Asked Gabriel as he took another step forward. He had never seen his brother like this, so empty.

So broken.

Michael's hand twitched slightly, as if he noticed Gabriel's presence, but didn't speak.  
Gabriel took it as an invitation and joined Michael next to the single candle.

"It's him, isn't it?" Gabriel asked slowly after a few minutes.

"You can still hear him, can't you?"  
Michael nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the candle, as he seemed to stare past it into another world.

Gabriel could almost see the hellfire reflected in his eyes, and shuddered mentally.  
"Michael, brother," Gabriel pled, grabbing the archangel's shoulder firmly. "It's been weeks. Heaven needs its General."

And it was true. Without Michael, Gabriel had been left to sort the chaos, to decide things he'd never had to before.

Gabriel knew it wasn't his job. He knew where he belonged, and he knew where Michael belonged.

He didn't belong half-dressed and mad in Heaven's loneliest chapel.

"Gabriel," Michael said painfully. "I cannot."

Gabriel looked up at him furiously, sparked by the look of despair in his eyes.

"How can you say that? You are the ONLY person who can do this! Not me, not Raphael. There is nothing for you here!"

Michael remained catatonic, face unresponsive as he gazed deeply into the flame.  
Gabriel flung a hand out and grabbed Michael's jaw in his hand, eyes glowing with the gold power of judgment.

He said nothing, just stared into Michael's eyes until something in them broke.

"I can still hear him screaming." Michael whispered brokenly, eyes haunted.

"All the time. He calls for me sometimes, and other times he curses me." A tear slid down his face, shocking Gabriel into realizing how broken Michael truly was.

"You must let him go." Gabriel whispered just as softly. "There is nothing you can do, nothing you will do can change anything."

Gabriel looked down then, the eyes like mirrors flashing behind eyelids as he closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "But we need you. They need you." He said, gesturing to the exit from the chapel, shadowy and hidden.

Michael's face tightened, eyes flashing blue as he finally became responsive.

"What do you want me to do, Angel of Judgment? Throw myself back together and lead Heaven as I once did?" He laughed bitterly then, the chuckles of a man near madness.

"I can't do that." He said when his laughter tapered off. Gabriel watched silently as Michael stalked forward, wings flaring out instinctively.

"All I can feel is his pain, Gabriel." He said as fresh tears poured down his face. "I can't tell if you believe me, but he is mine like I am his, and I won't live again while he is there."

Gabriel opened his own wings then, a soft gold compared to the harsh black of Michael's wings.

"I come here not as your brother, but as the second in command of Heaven." He said formally, trying to goad Michael. "Your duty to Heaven is unpaid. You must return. There is no other way."

"My duty to Heaven?" Asked Michael incredulously.  
That terrible laughter filled the chapel again.

"I threw my brother into Hell in the name of Heaven. And now you ask for more?" Michael smiled bitterly, hands gripping the back of the pew dangerously. "I am done discussing Heaven. Leave me." He said, flicking a hand in dismissal.

Gabriel walked slowly towards him, ignoring the dismissal.

He watched his brother stare into the flame thoughtfully.

"It won't stop, you know." He told the Archangel, turning away to stare at the sky.

Michael turned to him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The bond." Gabriel said simply. "You can feel his pain, and he yours. It won't stop, a sort of endless cycle. A grand plan of Father's, if you must."

Michael closed his eyes in pain then. "Curse our Father for this."

Then Michael seemed to think about it.

"Curse him! Curse him for being so arrogant! For thinking he could take on Heaven and win!" He shouted, grabbing the candle from the candelabra as he turned madly, moonlight reflecting in his eyes as he stared at Gabriel.

"I hope you feel this, you bastard!" He shouted at the sky as he held the candle against the skin of his inner arm, causing it to burn viciously. Gabriel took a step back, horrified by the change in his brother.

The skin sizzled as Michael burned more and more, hands finally going slack as he dropped the cancel and sat down heavily in the pew.

Gabriel knew Archangels couldn't really feel physical pain, not really. Except when it was self-inflicted, as Michael proved.

Michael was muttering as Gabriel sat next to him, arm burned terribly. Tears streaked his face as he kept whispering to himself.

"Why did he leave me, why did he leave me?" He asked Gabriel, who looked away at the pure look of pain in his brother's eyes. This wasn't simply about their brother in Hell now. It was about the pure pain of loss that was somehow thousands of times worse.

Gabriel, who felt older than ever in one moment, did something generally considered wrong, but seemed necessary now.

He reached out and placed his fingers on his brother's brow and put him to sleep, watching with relief as Michael's sharp blue eyes fluttered closed.

After healing the burn, Gabriel held his brother close, Michael's head in his lap as he clung to his older brother's shoulders, and did something he'd never done before.

Gabriel cried.

Fin


End file.
